Drifting-valve for locomotives.



F. J. COLE.

DRIFTING VALVE FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV19,1912.

1,058,352, Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

-FIG.

F J. COLE. DRIFTING VALVE FOR LOUOMOTWES. APEX-NATION FILE!) NOV.19, 1912.

1,058,352. Pat n d Apr. 8. 1913.

3 SHBETE'? EST 2.

-F'IG. 2.-

wn'ussys/ F. J. COLE. DRIFTING VALVE FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19, 1912.

Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

3 SHEBTS'SHEET 3.

- UNITED STATE; PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS J. COLE, OF SCHENECTADY, YORK.

pRIFrmG-vaLvE FOR Loooia'o'rrvnsg Spccificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Apr.8,1913,

Application filed November 19, 1912. Serial No. 732,207.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'it known that I, FRANCIS J. Cons, of Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady and State of New Yorlr, have invented a certain" new and useful Improvement in Drifting-Valves for Locomotives, of which improvement the following is a specifica- I tion.

The object of my invention is toprovide simple and inexpensive means for automatically' etfecting the admission of a limited quantity of steam, directly from the boiler to the valve chests and cylinders of a 1000- motive engine, during the periods in which the locomotive is-drifti ng or running with its throttle closed, in order to prevent the formation of avacuum in the cylinder fully set forth.

and prevent overheating and-undue wear of the parts which are. m frictional contact,

and also to efi'ect'the automatic closure'of the. superheater' damper, while drifting.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter In. the accompanying. drawings: Figure 1 IS a sideview, in elevation, of'so much of the forward portion of a locomotive engine as illustrates the application of my inven-'.;

' 'tion thereto; Fig. 2, a vertical central sec-' tons, when gymotive is 7 nary running conditions. Thisis due to thefact that, in thelatter case, the-exhaust? steam carries off the excess heat produced? by. the friction of the Iwearing parts and} keeps theirtemperature within reasonable limits. .The friction ofthe valves and pise-isteam is shut off and theloco-f li ting down longgrades, produces iconsi. erable heat, -wliereby thete-m-' perafute arts in abnormally:

the fact that the quantity of oil stan -1-.: i sed,-xha";b hesame in both cases. The

condition abovestated is especially true in thecase .of locomotives which are equipped ing.

plies it fu ii I! t swear-mg sed', mg 111-1111 ue wear, HOtWlt-lb.

with su'perheaters, the-parts subject to wear being much hotter than in locomotives usingsaturated steam, and,'consequently, a smaller increase in term eratu're-due to friction is more quickly e ectlve in the wear of cylinders, packing rings, bushings,"etc., than when saturated steam is used. A method which ,has'been ractised, in the"endeavor to obviate. or re uce'the objectionable results referred to,'is to 'slightly open or Crack?"the throttle valve, when drifting down-long grades, in order to admit a small quantity 'Ofsteam to the valve chests and cylinders. This practice is, however, for obvious reasons/undesirable, and particularly so in the caselof locomotives equipped with superheaters, b 'reasonof the-high heat of' steam admitted to the cyI- the superheate inde'rs- Vhen a locomotive is'drifting, there then being no steam in the cylinders-the movements of the pistons" therein produce a vacuum in each of the valve chests,-and far this 1 reason, air admission or so' called: vacuum valves are usually fitted on the valvechests.- The function of these valves is to admita smallquantity'of air to the cylin ders, in order "to reduce the vacuum therein and-also to prevent hot gases and' cinder-s from being drawn from the smoke'box into the exhaust pipes. The area of these vacuum valves i necessarily so small that it is impossible to supply airin sufficient quantities to the valve cheststo prevent the production of prevention, by-pass valves are often applied.

In a se arate application filed by me of even date 'erewitli, Ser.- No. 732,206, I have set forth and claimed a drifting valve ap-.'

pliance which is designed to utilize the tendency "to theffo'r'matiqn of a partial vacuum.in -the-cylinders. and valve chests to effect the automatic'-supply;of steam tocylinders when the locomotive drift-- the M thei s ameand is, further, specially designed a op? eration in. locomotives fitted with super heaters, in which itperfor the additional function of automatically" perat-ing the su erheater-damper,

eferring to the'drawings, in the pra presentinvention, while based upon" neral operativerprinciple, -'aper .d fierent structural =fcatures,"

Fig. 2. A piston rod, 4, passes through a properly packed stuflin box, 5", in the head, 5, said piston rod be ng turned down, at and for some distance from its upper end, to provide upon it a' shoulder 4, which abuts against an annular stop, 5, formed or fixed centrally on the head, 5, and thereby limits,

to the. proper degree, the upward traverse of the ,piston rod; The upper end of the piston rod abuts against the closed lower end of a socket, 4, formed centrally on .the piston. 'A lever, 17, having a weight, 17, fixed onone ofits ends, is fulcrumed, through a link, 17*, on a pin,- 17, fixed in lugs, 5, on the lower side of the head, 5, and the oppo+ site end of the lever, 17, is coupled, by a link, 17", to an arm, 18, on one end of the shaft, 18,0f the super-heater damper, which shaft is, as in ordinary practice, journaled in bearings in thc'smoke box, 11.,of the boiler, 11 of the'locomotit'e. .{lhe lever, 17, is'also coupled bya pin, 4, to a jaw, 4:, on thelower end of the 'iston rod, 4:, this connection being made etween the links, 17", and 17.- Under the construction above described, downward movement of the lever, 17, to the left, which is eficcted by the downward movement of the piston, 4, will swing the superheater damper shaft, 18, in direction and extent to close the superheater damper,'and movement of the lever in the opposite direction, which is efl'ected by the 'gravity'of the weight, 17, will swing the .shaft, 18, in direction and extent to open the supcrheaterdamper.

A steam supply chamber, 6, and a steam delivery .chamber, 7, are fixed to the top ofthe piston-chamber, 2, being preferably,

1 as shown, formed integral therewith, and

being scparatedby a. partitiorn'fi, in which 7 there is formed an opening controlled by a steam supply valve, 9, of the puppet type, "which his downwardly, or in the direction of as steam delivery chamber, 7. A pas- 2, leads out of the upper. end of the piston chamber, 2, and is connected, by a pipe, 3, with the adjacent distribution valve chest, 1.- The steam supply chamber, 5, communicates, b a pipe, 1.0, with. the steam space of the oiler, ;11, and a p1pe, 1 2, leads from the steam delivery chamber, 7,,1nt9 the pipe, 3, 'ieadingtothe valve chest, w thin A piston,'13, of materially greater diameter than that of the steamsupply valve, 9, is fitted in a chamber, 13*, below, and substantially in line axially with, said valve, the top of the'piston being normally in contact with, or slightly below, the downwardly projecting stem, 9, of said valve, so as to be adapted to unseat it by its upward movement. 7 A passage, 14, leads from the steam supply chamber, 6, to the piston chamber, 13", said passage being controlled by a small pilot valve, 15,-the stem, 15', of which extends downwardly to or near the bottom of the central socket, 4;, of the'piston.

In the operation of the appliance-above described, assuming the locomotive to .be standing and the throttle to be opened, steam is admitted to the distribution valve chests, and thence, through the pipes, 3, to the piston chambers, 2, above the pistons, 4, forcing said pistons downwardly, and through their connections with the superheatcr damper shaft, 18, opening the supcrheater damper. When the throttle is closed, .the weights, 17, force the pistons upward and close the superheater damper. \Vhen the engine is .dri'fting, with throttle closed, es-. pecially' on long -grades, the weights force the pistons upward until the motion of the piston rod is arrested by the contact of its shoulder, 4 with the stop, 5, therebypreventing further 'movement of the superheater damper shaft. A partial vacuum being formed in the valve chests by the movements of the pistons therein, as preliminarily described, a corresponding reduction of pressure results in each of the piston chambers, above the piston, 4, thereof, which is thereupon forced upwardly by the higher atmospheric pressure below it, of the air which entersthrough the opening, 5 The upward movement of the piston unseats the pilot valve, 15, thereby admit ting team vfrom the pipe, 10, and chamber, 6, to the )lZFtOIX chamber, 13, below the piston, ]3.- aid piston is thereby moved upwardly, unseating the supply Yalve,,9,

and adniittin steam from the boiler, through the pipe,- 10, chambers, 6, and 7, and pipes, 12, and 3, tothe valve chest. The jet action of the downwardly ex-tendin pipe, 12, induces, momentarily, an increased vacuumabove the piston. When the throttle is opened for the purpose of working the locomotive undel' steam, the piston, 4, is

depressed by the then higher pressure above it, and the valves,"15, and 9, are seated by motives, the combination of a passage forestablishing communication between a loco-' motive boiler and a distribution valve chest, a valve controlling said passage, a superheater damper shaft, and means for automatically opening said valve and moving said shaft into position to close the damper, when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed.

2. In a drifting valve appliance for locomotives, the combination of a passage for establishin communication between a locomotive boil er and a distribution valve chest, a valve controlling said passage, a superheater damper shaft, means, actuated by atmospheric pressure, for automatically opening said valve when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed, and'means, actuated by gravity, for automatically moving said shaft into position to close the damper, when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed.

3. In a drifting valve appliance for locomotives, the combination of a passage for establishing communication between a locomotive boiler and a distribution valve chest, a valve controlling said passage, :1. superheate-r damper shaft, a movable abutment, actuated by atmospheric pressure, for automatically opening said valve when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed, and a gravity actuated lever and link mechanism for automatically moving said shaft into position to close the damper, when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed.

4. In a drifting valve appliance for locomotives, the combination of a passage for establishing communication between a locomotive boiler and a distribution valve chest,

a valve controlling said paw e, a superheater damper shaft, a movab e abutment,

- actuated by atmospheric pressure, for automatically opening said valve when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed, a gravity actuated lever and link'mechanism for automatically moving said shaft into position to close the damper, when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed, and intermediate connections between said lever and link mechanism and said movable abutment, whereby the superheater'damper shaftis moved by said abutment into position to open the damper when the throttle is opened for working the locomotive under steam.

5. In a drifting valve appliance for locomotives, the combination of a passage for establishing communication between a locoa valve controlling said passage, a superheater damper shaft, a movable abutment, actuated, in one direction, by atmospheric pressure, to automatically open said valve when the locomotive is drifting with throttle closed, and actuated in the opposite direction by steam pressure, a gravity actuated lever and link mechanism, coupled to the superheater damper shaft, and intermediate connections between said lever and link mechanism and said movable abutment, whereby the superheater damper shaft is moved by said abutment into position to open the damper when the throttle is opened for workin the locomotive under steam, and is moved by the lever and link mechanism into position to close the damper when the throttle is closed. l

'motive boiler and a distribution valve chest,

6. In a drifting valve appliance for locomotives, the combination of a passage for establishmg communication between a locomotive boiler and a distribution valve chest,

a valve controlling said passage, a 'super-' FRANCIS J. COLE.

\Vitnesses v I S. TYLER,

F. F. Scovmn.

end coupled to the lever. 

